An investigation of third and fourth year students' experiences and attitudes about modern racism within an education faculty at a University in Gauteng

Abstract:

The study aims to investigate third and fourth year education students' experiences of and
attitudes toward modern racism, in a university in Gauteng province, South Africa. The
collection of data was from 262 participants (51.2% of the third and fourth year student
count) using a questionnaire. Items were adapted to focus on modern racism, with
symbolic racism theory as the primary point of departure. Secondary theories were also
used to support this study, which include: race as a social construct, a systems perspective
on racism, critical race theory, and social dominance theory. Data analysis involved the
use of various statistical techniques to include: Principal Components Analysis (PCA);
Bartlett's test of sphericity, Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO); One-Way Anova; MANOVA;
and the chi-square method. The cronbach-alpha reliability coefficient of 0.873 for section
A of the questionnaire, and a reliability coefficient of 0.78 for section B, validates the
research instrument. In addressing the research question, two hypotheses were
constructed: (1) that research findings will indicate that there are significant differences in
terms of student experiences of modern racism; and (2) that research findings will indicate
that there are significant differences in terms of students' attitudes toward racial ideology,
in terms of modern racism. Factor analysis revealed that respondents had the perception
that modern racism had seldom been experienced by them within the previous 12 months,
and results indicated neutrality. However, when subjecting these factors to further
analysis, another factor surfaced, which had not formed part of the initial investigation,
revealing that racial groups differed significantly with respect to both frequency of
perceived discrimination based on skin colour and the perceived effects of affirmative
action. Results indicate that respondents seldom experience subtle forms of racism based
on skin colour, and probably occurred at least once in the previous 12 months. Results
also indicate neutrality in terms of practices which could be explained by affirmative
action policies.